


shockingly enough

by offlight



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crests (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22595707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offlight/pseuds/offlight
Summary: Felix uncharacteristically loses control of his crest. Dimitri gets curious as to why.// collaborative project with vi (vermilleons @ twit) for the sworn community project!
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 10
Kudos: 190
Collections: Project Sworn





	shockingly enough

It is no secret that the people of Fodlan love crest-bearing children.

Not to say that they would say no to a child if they were to be born without a crest—any child is a blessing, a sweet gift to a family, a parent’s greatest joy, etc. etc.—but rather, if you were to propose to Fodlan nobles that they could modify their crest-less children into a crest- _bearing_ child with a relatively simple, moderately painful, undoubtedly inhumane procedure—you would have an alarming number of takers.

This is only said slightly in jest.

Still, it is not as if having a crest-bearing child is an unendingly gratifying experience. Children with minor crests are known to be a handful—given that crests have a tendency to activate upon the manifestation and expression of strong emotions, it isn’t unheard of for crest-bearing children to cry and shatter rows of glasses, for them to laugh while playing and suddenly sprout flowers underfoot. The worst, people would usually say, are the ones gifted with fire affinity, who are known at times to burn down whole rooms with the force of their temper tantrums. 

Crest-bearing children are exceptionally coveted for their rarity and specialness, but the prospect of raising them give all expecting parents the faintest hint of dread.

In this way—even among crest-bearing children—Felix is an interesting case.

There is no marker for identifying when a baby holds a major crest. Even the Fraldariuses aren’t sure of when and how exactly it was discovered—and over time, the story has changed so extremely in its many variations that there is no certain answer.

Some claim that they had known from the moment that Felix was born to the world, when there were accompanying bursts of electric discharge so sudden and powerful that all nearby curtains caught on fire.

Others state that they knew when his older brother Glenn, still young and naive at the time, had screamed that his little brother was a possessed, demonic beast—and that if it was enough to scare a child with a minor crest, then surely it was something quite unique.

It is not worth discussing the details. Regardless, as a result of his major crest, Felix is disciplined more carefully.

Children with minor crests are already taught from youth to manage their emotions—Dimitri remembers learning this lesson himself from his mother and his nannies. Felix is given even stricter lessons on how to notice and manage his feelings, how to take deep breaths to calm down if he feels himself getting worked up to where his crest activates outside of his control.

This is likely why, for as long as Dimitri remembers, Felix has always had the best regulation of his crest ability compared to others. Or he was much better than Dimitri at least, who had never quite gotten the hang of it and would easily grow anxious enough to snap chairs in half. This incredible discipline lasted Felix well even throughout the war—even when he was snapping at Dimitri, when he was fighting for his life on the battlefield, when old friends and classmates died in front of them—he never fully lost control.

This is why Dimitri is caught off guard when he reaches over in the middle of a council meeting to fondly rest a hand on Felix’s knee under the table and immediately— _immediately—_ yelps in surprise.

The surprise comes from three separate events, happening so fast that Dimitri’s brain recognizes it as one.

The first—Felix giving a violent jolt in his seat, large enough to where his leg slams up against the bottom of the table with a ferocity that has him hissing.

The second—a harsh shock of electricity so painful that it ricochets all the way up Dimitri’s arm and makes his head fuzzy.

The final—a shower of electric discharge from Felix that sparks up wildly enough to catch on a few paper reports on the table, setting them aflame with a gusto that quickly catches on the wood table itself.

It is a complete disaster.

As castle staff rushes in to douse out the fire with buckets of water, Felix jumps out of his seat. He very nearly makes it out the door before Dimitri realizes what he’s attempting and manages to follow just in time, tripping on the corner of his chair in the process.

“Felix, are you—?” he asks, catching the heavy door just as it’s closing and pushing it open enough for him to slip out behind Felix.

Felix continues down the hall at a brisk pace.

“I’m fine.”

“Really? Because I’ve never seen you—”

“I’m _fine_.”

For an adult noble, an accidental crest activation has about the same gravity as a toddler wetting the bed. Dimitri regards this incident with the solemnity it deserves.

Felix makes it halfway down the hall before stopping in the middle of a step and looking around, as if checking to see if anyone is watching. Dimitri suddenly finds himself being dragged into a random room to their right by an iron-tight grip on his forearm, one that he’s never been in before. After Felix throws open the curtains, he can tell it’s a sitting room.

The light is harsh today, as the snow from the night prior amplifies the sunlight into a searing, cold burn. Dimitri is left blinking, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness while Felix starts to pace on the carpet.

“Felix. I’m very sorry for that, I didn’t realize that it would catch you off guard—”

“I’m never caught off guard,” Felix says reflexively. He makes a pinched face, like he’s just bitten into a lemon. “That wasn’t off guard—that was—I don’t know what that was.”

“It seemed like your crest. Which—”

“I _know_ it was my crest.”

“Yes.” Dimitri pauses, expecting Felix to continue, but Felix does nothing except turn and stalk towards the other side of the room. “Well. I have to say that I’m very surprised, I don’t believe I’ve seen you accidentally activate your crest since we were—oh...perhaps since we were children.”

“That’s because I haven’t,” Felix mutters. He paces faster.

Dimitri hums and continues tracking Felix with his eye, an act that is admittedly beginning to feel tiring.

“Perhaps it’s the contact?”

“I don’t freak out every time someone touches me.”

“I did surprise you.”

Felix shakes his head. He is practically clearing the room in a light jog at this point.

“I’m never caught off guard,” Felix repeats. Dimitri starts to think off in another direction.

Their relationship—if what they were beginning to slide into could be called a romantic relationship—is still in its inception. He’s unsure of how much experience Felix has with these sorts of romantic gestures, but at least speaking for himself, there is nothing outside of the sparse and very unfortunate paired outings that Sylvain had dragged him off to during their monastery days that Dimitri can count towards romantic experience. It amplifies every little act that he does with Felix—the degree of happiness that Dimitri has in doing them with him.

“Perhaps it’s the affection?” Dimitri asks, tentatively.

Felix’s toe catches in the corner of the carpet and he stumbles.

“What.”

“The affection,” Dimitri repeats, louder in case if he hadn’t heard the first time. “My affection for you.”

“It’s not the affection,” Felix says, stuttering over the last word.

“Hmm.” There is something funny happening with Felix’s face, to where it’s starting to pinch again. Dimitri finds it endearing. “It may not be.”

“It’s not.”

Dimitri nods.

“It’s not,” Felix repeats, with feeling.

“I agree.” Felix does not look convinced, so Dimitri nods emphatically. “I am agreeing with you.”

This only seems to make him more upset.

“I wouldn’t be so easily overwhelmed by something like aff—something like romantic sentiment.”

This is starting to feel confusingly personal. Dimitri isn’t sure where he slots into this conversation anymore. He’s not entirely convinced, but he supposes there’s no way they could figure out the actual source of Felix’s loss of control.

“I understand,” is all he can bring himself to say.

Felix nods, quick. He clasps his hands behind his back, turns back to the window. Then pivots and glances off to the fireplace to the far end of the room. He scratches at the side of his thumb with a fingernail.

This is an interesting sight. Felix is not the type to fidget. It’s one of the many tendencies that they try to train out of noble children in their youth, and Felix was trained very well.

“Are you concerned about the other lords?” Dimitri asks.

Felix shakes his head. His fingernail digs in a little further.

“Felix?”

Felix seems to freeze up, considering something, before he acts all at once and very quickly. 

He grabs Dimitri by the sides of his arms and moves him, bodily, until they’re facing each other. It takes Dimitri back to when they would practice grappling techniques, back when they all sparred regularly with each other during their monastery days.

Indeed, there’s something to Felix’s face that makes it look like he’s squaring up for something grievous.

“Oh. You really don’t need to push yourself if you don’t want to. You have nothing to prove with me.”

“I know that.”

Felix’s ears are bright red, dark enough in color that Dimitri is convinced he’d be able to feel the warmth if he reached over. Dimitri is feeling quite warm, himself. The look in Felix’s eyes—of vague terror—confirms this.

“I’m going to kiss you,” Felix explains, “And then we’ll use that as proof to see if what happened earlier is due to the affection.”

“Okay,” Dimitri says, because there isn’t much else to say to that. 

This is new for them. They haven’t kissed as of yet. When Felix puts it like this, it sounds very weighty of an event. Dimitri feels that he is still not entirely convinced that this is happening. He wonders if it would be too obvious if he reached over to pinch himself.

They stare at each other for a moment longer.

“You’re going to have to lean down,” Felix says, through grit teeth.

The implication of that statement, along with Felix’s less-than-amused expression, makes Dimitri lean in a little too quickly. His forehead bumps against Felix’s just hard enough that he feels a little bit of pain—but no shock.

Felix seems to realize this as well, which only makes his face darken even more.

“If this is actually it,” Dimitri hears him muttering, “If this is _actually_ it...” Felix glances back to him. From this very close distance, the gold of his eyes looks quite stunning. “Close your eye.”

Dimitri obeys.

He’s pretty sure that he stops breathing, too, up until the moment that he feels something very soft press against his lips.

He does manage to register, in the back corner of his mind, that there is no electric shock this time. This realization is quite small and insignificant to him in the moment, considering the massive, sweeping wave of affection that swells in his chest. For that reason, it’s actually quite instinctual what he does next—turns his face just slightly, kissing Felix back.

It’s like kissing a thunderbolt. He blacks out blissfully.

Dimitri isn’t sure how long it is until he wakes up from his stunned state. When he comes to he finds himself sitting on the ground, staring off blankly in front of him, his hand being held much too tightly by a very, very angry Felix next to him. The first thing that Dimitri thinks, consciously, is that it’s quite cute that his ears are still bright red.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Felix says, livid.

It _is_ the affection, Dimitri realizes—but is wise enough to not share it out loud.

**Author's Note:**

> vi and i talked extensively about how much we wanted to offer stupid antics to offset our general dmfx nation sadness and so voila!!!!! our piece for sworn community project was born!!!! we lovingly referred to it as our pikachu felix idea...... as is fitting
> 
> seriously though this was so much fun to write. it was so much fun making them silly. i wasn't planning particularly on posting this fic on ao3 but then glanced at it again in the finished community project and it amused me a lot so it deserves to be saved separately


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